Irving Lahrheim (August 13, 1895 – December 4, 1967), known professionally as Bert Lahr, was an American stage and screen actor. He was best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion, as well as his counterpart Kansas farmworker "Zeke", in the MGM adaptation of The Wizard of Oz (1939). He was well known for his quick-witted humor and his work in burlesque and vaudeville and on Broadway.
Early life, family and education :
Lahr was born as Irving Lahrheim on August 13, 1895, at First Avenue and 81st Street, in the Yorkville section of Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. He was the son of Augusta (1871–1932) and Jacob Lahrheim (1870–1947), an upholsterer. His parents were German-Jewish immigrants.
He attended P.S. 77 and Morris High School, although he left school at age 15.
Lahr later served in the U.S. Navy during World War I as a seaman second class.
Stage career :
Lahr began performing in minor parts on vaudeville stages at age 14. He quit school at age 15 to join a juvenile vaudeville act. He eventually received top billing, working for the Columbia Amusement Company. In 1927, he debuted on Broadway in Harry Delmar's Revels on November 28, 1927. He played to packed houses, performing classic routines such as "The Song of the Woodman" (which he reprised in the film Merry-Go-Round of 1938). Lahr's first major success in a stage musical was playing the prizefighter hero of Hold Everything! (1928–29). Other musicals followed, notably Flying High (1930), Florenz Ziegfeld's Hot-Cha! (1932), and The Show is On (1936) in which he co-starred with Beatrice Lillie. In 1939, he co-starred as Louis Blore alongside Ethel Merman in the Broadway production of DuBarry Was a Lady, receiving acclaim.
Later performances included Hotel Paradiso on Broadway and A Midsummer Night's Dream with a touring company in the 1950s. In 1962 he returned to Broadway, in S. J. Perelman's The Beauty Part
Film career :
Lahr as the Cowardly Lion in the MGM feature film The Wizard of Oz, 1939
Lahr made his feature film debut in 1931's Flying High, playing the oddball aviator he had played on stage. He signed with New York-based Educational Pictures for a series of two-reel comedies. When that series ended, he went to Hollywood to work in feature films. Aside from The Wizard of Oz (1939), his movie career was limited. In the 1944 musical comedy film Meet the People, Lahr uttered the phrase "Heavens to Murgatroyd!" later popularized by Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Snagglepuss.
